Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Castle in the Classroom

I have really enjoyed the continued reading in Castle over the past few weeks. I really have loved the way that lesson plans are done in this book.  The author shows that she plans units out far in advance.  The thing that I really like is that there is room for flexibility.  As we have all experienced, making lesson plans does not mean that the children will actually follow them to the "T."  This also does not mean that a lesson will last as long as we may have been originally hoping for it to last.  I have persoanlly experienced this with some of our assessment windows.  I have tried to make the actvity very engaging for the child that I am working with, but sometimes he will become disinterested before I had planned.  When this happens, I have tried to move to another activty and then maybe try and come back to this later on.  I think that it is good to follow the lead of the child in this case.  We want to make sure that children are not becoming bored wit what we have planned and then force them to continue!

5 comments:

  1. Assessment can be quite boring so it really IS important to follow the child's wishes when possible and try to make it as fun as possible for them. For example, bringing things they like into an assessment can pique their interest and keep them with you longer. When I worked with a child in my classroom, I used princess paper to write on and she went from being reluctant to try to really enjoying herself. Sometimes it is as simple as that!

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  2. I have not read Castle, so this was an interesting post for me to read. It is interesting that there are lesson plans in there. (I'm somewhat jealous!) I', glad you mentioned that we must not expect to follow a lesson plan so closely--especially if we plan them early in advance.

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  3. Good post. Following the interest of the child is the best way to have the child maintain the information that is given. However if a teacher and the student is discussing a subject that you feel is important and the child become disinterested before she attains the knowledge, there are things a teacher can do. For example let the child move on but try to subtly sneak in what you wan the child to know or make the lesson you want taught more interesting to the child.

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  4. Flexibility is so important for teachers to understand. Not all our children will want to do what we have planned out for them to do. They will take our lessons in new directions than what we thought. Some of our children will find the activity boring or be easily distracted by things around them. It is important to be flexible and have several activities ready that the children are interested and it is important to take what the children are interested in and incorporate it into our planning. By having something that appeals to the children's interest it will be easier to keep them on track with lesson and hopeful gain the knowledge you hope they will.

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  5. Following a child's lead is a staple concept in nearly every early childhood education approach. This is talked about in some form or another that teachers need to base lessons off of what students are interested in and what they show a desire to learn.

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